Blood and Ruins (part 1):

The Last Imperial War, 1931- 1945

By; Richard Overy

Page Number: 0-124/1040

Originally published: 2022

"The struggle for additional territory and secure resources, if necessary through war, turned the clock back into an earlier imperial age" (pg. 61)

“Blood and Ruins”, written by the British historian Richard Overy, is a publication that dives deep into the causes, events, and outcomes of the Last Imperial War: The Second World War.

Prologue:

In the prologue of the book, Overy mainly focuses on the circumstances of the leading Axis and Allied powers. He analyzes the history of the nations prior to the outbreak of the Second World War and focuses on three terms that are highly relevant to the rest of the book: the imperialism of the 18th century, new imperialism of the 19th and 20th centuries, and nationhood & nationalism.

Beginning during the mid-eighteenth century, imperialism evolved the social order of the entire globe. According to Overy, imperial expansion produced multiple sets of the nation- empires that relied heavily on the forced labor, raw materials, and natural resources of the colony settlements. Imperialism, the “crusading, conquering, exploiting, proselytizing” of civilizations, became the most effective way for the leading world powers to preserve their militaristic and financial strengths.

Between 1884- 1914 the world was going through an age of “new imperialism”. Overy describes this new way of imperialism as a broader set of practices than the traditional way of imperialism that was limited to settlement and colonization. “Having a hodgepodge of territories, worldwide colonies, protectorates, spheres of influence, entrepots, and areas of privileged treaty rights” are all examples of how new imperialism is exercised in the world. Aside from the financial appeal of imperialism, the imperialist powers saw themselves at the top of the “natural hierarchy of the races” that granted them the right to rule over the lesser peoples of the world. It was their destiny, they thought, to subject the inferior cultures and races and lead them to the way of modernization and civilization. Thus, the basis of imperialism did not come solely from the need for material gains, but from a mental stance that suggested the superiority of the ruling empire.

Lastly, Overy focused on two terms that were imperative when it comes to understanding the causes of World War 2: nationhood & nationalism. 19th and 20th centuries, with practices of new imperialism, urbanization, and industrialization at a new height, became an era of competition between the modernizing nation-empires. National prestige and the search for raw materials were the most relevant concepts for the continuation of the states. The Darwinian Paradigm, the survival of the fittest, became a basis on which nation-empires understood world politics. Obtaining colonies and areas of control, honoring national values, and organizing strong military forces were the cornerstones of maintaining one’s nation. Connection to nationhood and a strong nationalistic perspective, Overy suggests, was the incentive for joining the battle for many states.

Chapter 1:

In the first chapter of the book, Overy discusses the period between 1931 and 1940. He looks at the period through different lenses and makes an extensive analysis of the concepts, ideologies, and events relating to the era.

The war officially began with the German invasion of Poland on September 1st, 1939. In the meanwhile, the other Axis powers: Italy and Japan were preparing and executing their offenses. Japan had already conquered Manchuria, and Italy was in plans to gain control over British colonies. Parallel to Germany’s desire of being the strongest empire in Eastern Europe, Japan saw itself as the destined leader of East Asia, and Italy had growing ambitions to bring back the glorious Roman Empire that ruled over the Mediterranean, North Africa, and Europe once upon a time.

Overy claims that although each of the Axis powers was facing different issues on different scales, they shared one main ambition for their involvement in the battle: the desire for more territory. Fueled by this desire was the growing resentment toward the Great Powers of the world for their prevention of the Axis from expanding their territory. The ownership of huge regions by Allies under different titles like colonies, spheres of influence, and protectorates seemed unjust and acquisitive to the peoples of the Axis. Overy says that “a nationalist consensus emerged in favor of empire after years of resentment” for all three of these states. Thus, there was increasing unrest in the public and politicians of the Axis powers between 1931 to the beginning of the war.

Meanwhile, the Allies, observing such dismay of the Axis powers, were concerned for their futures. Especially Britain and France, seeing the attempt for a new world order by the Axis powers, were in a worrisome state. They knew that the horrors of the First World War were still fresh in people's minds and there was a lack of a strong economy that could fund the costs of a new war. Questioning whether the empires would be able to stay standing after a possible conflict, the duo found themselves taking cautious and neutral steps. In what was known as strategies of "appeasement, containment, and deterrence", Franco- British politicians chose to turn to the other direction in the sight of cruel invasions made by Japan, Germany, and Italy in order to avoid the risk of an international battle.

Overy describes the diplomacy used by the Allies as “supported strategies that were designed to help Britain and France avoid war while remailing credible powers capable of protecting their global economic and territorial interests”. A prominent factor of this not-taking-a-risk policy was due to a large amount of territory they ruled that could be targeted by the enemy. Overy explains this panic as a “fear of general war and the manifold problems of holding together global empires that were difficult to defend adequately against external threats and internal political protests”. The timing of the war fueled the dismay of the Allies as the colonies and protectorate states were already restless and in constant resistance to the colonizers. For example, out of all the British spheres of influence, Iraq was granted self-governance in 1932, Egypt got its independence in 1936 with the Anglo- Egyptian Treaty, the division in Palestine was further growing apart, and India was going through a wave of riots. For the French, the fabrication of mandates in French North Africa and protests in Caribbean colonies woke up similar feelings of unease in the home country.

The United States, till the Pearl Harbor attack, was not in favor of joining the war. The president of the time, F.D Roosevelt put up neutrality laws that supported containment. The focus of the government was not to join the battle, as it was geographically happening miles away and did not concern much about American state politics. Rather, a "hemisphere defense" was agreed upon where the only land the US would protect would be its own.

There was a pattern between how the Allied states approached the war season versus how the Axis did. Allies used the time to their advantage, took a more defensive approach, and used “appease, containment, and deterrence” at the beginning of the war. They planned to hold a well-built defense line and contain the status- quo till the opposition could no longer continue. For example, Chinese opposition against Japanese combats was named the “War of Resistance”, due to China’s favor of a long war where they would slowly tire the Japanese army by only resisting the coming forces without using offense.

On the other hand, Axis powers, while having relatively strong armies, did not have the strength to fight back the Allied powers for a long period, and thus made their offenses in quick lunges, with a “hit first and hit hard” method. Although it seemed successful initially, time proved that the victories achieved by that strategy were not sustainable. The events that began the war correspond to this framework of the Axis’ charge and the Allies’ fortification.

Notable Dates:

• 1928-1932: Soviet Union's Five-Year Plan: Stalin’s 5-year plan of high production of goods: Holodomor famine

• 1936-1940: Hitler’s Four-Year Plan: focus on rearmament and self-sufficiency

• 1930: Pacification of Libya by Italy

• 1931: The Manchurian Incident: Japan’s takeover of Manchuria, a city that held 90% of China’s oil, 70% of its iron, and 55% percent of its gold.

• The Outline Plan: Japan’s plan of using all resources from Manchuria for the goal of leading East Asia

• 1932: Disarmament Conference of Geneva: Germany walks out

• 1936: Anti- Comintern Pact: Japan & Germany; Italy joins in 1937: against world communists

• 1937: Marco- Polo Bridge Incident: 200 deaths committed by the Japanese army

• 1937: Joint Nationalist Defence Meeting: occurred after the Marco- Polo Bridge Incident against

• 1937: Yellow River Tragedy: Chiang’s plan of creating a vast flood to dismantle the Japanese army: when executed caused the death of half a million Chinese civilians

• 1931-1938: Japan’s territorial expansion over China: conquered Manchuria, Beijing, Shanghai, Wuhan, and Guangzhou: which make up 87% of the nation’s productive capacity

• 1938: Austria & Czechoslovakia become Germany's protectorates under the watch of the British: execution of the ideology “appeasement”: Chamberlain has declared a hero afterward for not going into war

• 1939: Albania’s takeover by Italy

• 1939: Non- Aggression Pact: Soviet & German: divided Poland between the two:

• 1 Sep. 1939: Poland’s invasion by Germany and the Soviets

• 1939: Operation Himmler: SS’s killing of 7 Polish men to use it as an excuse for the invasion

• 3 Sep. 1939: Britain and France announced war

• 1939: Italy’s non-belligerent state declared

• 1940: Operation Tannenberg: the murder of the Polish elite: cleansing of Jews and some Poles who could not be Germanized

• 1940: German invasion of Denmark & Norway

• 1940: Chamberlain resides, Churchill takes place as the prime minister

• May 1940: German offense against France:

- Case Yellow: Army Groups A, B, C: German strategy of using the Ardennes Forests as a way to attack the French and not the Belgium or Maginot Line fronts: took the French by surprise

• 1940: Operation Aerial: abandonment of France by British, soldiers taken back

• May 1940: Italy joins the war

• May 1940: bombings of Germany’s industrial regions by Britain